Ball collection arrangement

ABSTRACT

A golf driving range target ( 112 ) comprises pockets ( 150, 183 ) suspended for cables ( 146, 176 ), the pockets feeding received golf balls to a common receptacle. Between the exits ( 166 ) of the pockets and the common receptacle, the balls, which are coded, pass code-reading devices for identification. The pockets have walls ( 162, 165 ) which are shaped to direct received balls quickly to the exit ( 166 ) and may have internal ball-directing baffle members ( 163, 167 ). The pockets may be arranged concentrically or in an array.

The present invention relates to a ball collection arrangement and inparticular to a target used in an automated golf driving range such asdescribed in WO 99/48046.

WO 99/48046 discloses a range with golf screens and targets; each targetarea and the hole of each green is provided with a coded ball reader.U.S. Pat. No. 5,370,389 discloses a range with target greens, each ofwhich have a single hole for collecting and reading the ball. WO93/25286 discloses a golf range with targets provided with opticalscanners to pass ball identification information to a programmedcomputer, the targets comprising a sloping surface divided intoconcentric circles.

The above-described prior art arrangements suffer from one or moredisadvantages. For example, they are made of relatively hard material sothat a golf ball can bounce off them to another part of the target orcompletely off the target. Moreover, only limited information isprovided about the particular part of the target where the golf balllanded. In addition the targets can be susceptible to harsh weatherconditions.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is providedan arrangement for receiving golf balls comprising a plurality ofmutually adjacent pockets of flexible material, each pocket having anoutlet at the bottom connected to a common receptacle for collectinggolf balls.

The pockets are preferably made of fabric or plastics and may be made ofsheet material or net material. Net material has the advantage that rainpasses straight through. A particularly waterproof arrangement isprovided if the pockets are made of plastics or plastics-coatedmaterial.

The collection arrangement preferably forms part of a target in anautomated golf driving range. The golf balls are preferably coded andpass a reading device which detects the codes and indicates the regionwhere each golf ball landed on a display near the driving tee. Bachpocket may have its own individual reading device. Alternatively, thetarget area may be divided into one or more zones, each of which has itsown ball code reading device, with a plurality of pockets constitutingeach zone.

The edges of the pocket may be suspended from webs extending across anopening in the ground. The ends of the webs are supported at the edgesof the opening; in addition they may be supported at intermediate pointsby poles. The webs are preferably resilient so that, upon impact by agolf ball, they deflect to absorb the momentum of the ball, which thusdrops into an adjacent pocket.

The pockets are readily releasable from the web members for ease ofaccess and maintenance. For example the top edges of the pockets mayhave lengths of hooked touch-and-close material stitched thereto, whichco-operate with corresponding lengths on the web members.

In a preferred arrangement, the attachment of a said pocket to a saidweb member is by means of a plurality of hook members along an edge ofthe pocket, the hook members being attached to the web member from theside thereof remote from the pocket. An advantage of this arrangement isthat, with two pockets attached to a single web member at opposite sidesthereof with the hook members interleaved along the web member, theedges of the pockets are held tight against each other to avoid gapstherebetween.

The material of each pocket is preferably held fairly taut between itsedges at the top and its outlet at the bottom. This ensures that acollected ball quickly leaves the pocket via the outlet. The angle ofthe sides of the pocket relative to the horizontal preferably lieswithin the range 35° to 80°, more preferably 45° to 70°. The mostpreferred value is substantially 60°.

The pockets may be arranged in an array or matrix. Alternatively, theyare arranged in concentric circles or any other desired configuration.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is providedan arrangement for receiving golf balls comprising an array of mutuallyadjacent compartments, each compartment having an outlet at the bottomconnected to a common receptacle for collecting golf balls.

The compartments preferably have the general shape of inverted pyramids.

The array is preferably in the form of compartments defined betweenradial lines and concentric circles. Alternatively, the array may be amatrix formed of rows and columns, or in the form of a honeycomb orother desired configuration. By assigning each compartment, or a groupcomprising a relatively small number (e.g. 5 to 20, preferably 10) ofcompartments, to a respective zone and incorporating a ball code readingdevice at the outlet of each zone, it is possible to quickly feed backaccurate information about where a golf ball lands to a display adjacentto the driving tee.

Preferred embodiments of the present invention will now be described, byway of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, ofwhich:

FIG. 1 is a plan of a golf driving range incorporating ball collectionarrangements in accordance with a first embodiment of the presentinvention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of a ball collection arrangement as shown inFIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but with the collecting pockets orcompartments removed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional side view of the arrangement of FIGS. 2 and 3; and

FIG. 5 is a top plan view of a ball collection arrangement in accordancewith a second embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are enlarged top and side views of a segment of amodification of the embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIGS. 8 and 9 are side and top views of a pocket suspended from a webmember of the arrangement of FIG. 5; and

FIGS. 10 and 11 are side perspective and to plan views of a supportelement of the arrangement of FIG. 5.

Referring to the drawings, a golf driving range 10, which may be of thetype disclosed in WO 99/48046, comprises a range building 11,incorporating a plurality of driving tees arranged in one or more decks,and a plurality of targets 12–21. Targets 12–17 are 25 meters indiameter, 18 and 19 are 15 meters, targets 20 are 5 meters, and targets21 are 2½ meters in diameter. Coded golf balls landing on one of thetargets 12–19 are collected and identified as described below and thenpassed to a respective hopper or other receptacle 22 in a manholebeneath an accessible cover. Balls are intermittently collected from thereceptacles 22 when the driving range is not in use.

For the nearer targets 20, 21 the collected and identified balls arereturned immediately via a feed channel 25 to a handling room in oradjacent to the range building 11.

The driving range may also incorporate one or more target greens 30–32.Each green slopes towards its hole which has an outlet feed channel 35connected to the receptacle 22 for an adjacent target.

Referring now to FIGS. 2 to 4, there is shown one of the targets 12arranged in a substantially circular hole 40 in the ground, typically 3meters deep. A concrete member 45 comprises a ring beam 41 whichsurrounds the hole and also an earth retaining wall 42. Stainless steelu-shaped bars are cast into the inner face of wall 42 to serve asretaining elements. A circular wooden platform 43 is also providedaround the edge of the hole and the beam 41 and platform 43 are coveredwith artificial turf.

A support arrangement comprising a plurality of web members is attachedto the u-shaped bars in wall 42 and is shown in FIG. 2. Diametrical webmembers 46, 47, 48 and 49 are first attached to wall 42 and thencircular and radically extending web members 51, 52 are subsequentlyattached to form a cobweb pattern. The web members are preferably ofhigh shrinkage polyester fibre. They are prestressed so as to remainsubstantially horizontal when supporting a load. However, if a golf ballstrikes one of the web members, a substantial amount of the momentum isabsorbed by the web member. To help maintain the web members horizontalthey are additionally supported by poles or props 58 of plasticsmaterial.

Pockets 50 defining separate compartments are attached by means oflength of touch-and-close, hooked fastening material to the web members46–49, 51, 52. The pockets are made of open-meshed PVC coated polyesterfabric material, cut and welded into four-sided shape. It will be seenthat each side is substantially triangular so that the pockets 50resemble inverted pyramids. At the bottom of every pocket 50 there is anoutlet hole 55 which leads to a “sock” 59 of the same material which inturn leads to a plastics connection pipe 60, FIGS. 3 and 4.

The sides of the pockets are disposed at substantially 60° to thehorizontal. The top edges of the pockets have a typical length of 1meter to 1.5 meters.

It will be seen from FIG. 3 that the pockets are arranged in groups often or so, with each group defining a zone, eg zone 64. All the pipes 60within a single zone lead to a common reading device 61 which identifiesa collected golf ball by reading its code. Prom the reading devices 61,golf balls pass via channels or gutters 70 to the receptacle or hopper22. Pipes 60 are inclined more steeply than channels 70, so that thegolf balls can be identified as quickly as possible and the informationfed back to the driving tee. The gradient of pipes 60 have a minimumgradient of 8°, whereas the channels 70 have a minimum gradient of 2°.Any blockages in channels 70 can be cleared later, but if a ball were tofail to reach the reading device 61, this would ruin the game.

At the centre of each target there is provided a hole 80 with a separatesteel collection tube 81 and ball reader 82 for detecting and indicatinga hole-in-one. A steel flagpole 83 is attached to the side of the hole.Thus it will be seen that the target is divided up into twenty two zones(including the hole 80).

By disconnecting and removing selected pockets 50, maintenance andrepair personnel can gain access to walkways 85.

The above-described arrangement has numerous advantages. The holes inthe fabric of pockets 50 let rain through so that there is noundesirable accumulation of rain water in the pockets. Should there be aparticularly heavy snow fall, the weight of which might damage thetarget, the touch and close fasteners will yield and can simply bereconnected when the snow has gone.

The tension and shape of the sides of the pockets mean that a ballpasses through the pocket as quickly as possible so that it can beidentified, a suitable display can be made at the tee, and the game cancontinue. The sides are not so taut that a golf ball will bounce offthem, but do not sag so that a ball cannot be retained by them.

The size and shape of the pockets in each ring of the target areidentical which leads to rationalisation of manufacture.

The arrangement of the compartments formed by the pockets 50 in an arrayor matrix, enables the reading devices to provide information to thedisplay as to the zone in which a ball has landed. This information canbe as precise as desired and informs a golfer whether the shot was toofar or too short and to the left or to the right of the hole. Thisfeature is not available when each zone comprises a complete ring aroundthe hole.

The targets are easily prepared and installed. An initial contractor canexcavate the hole 40 and prepare the concrete member 45 in situ with theu-shaped bars cast in simultaneously. The receptacle 22 can also beinstalled at this stage. The pipework 60, 70 etc, the web members 46–49,51, 52 and the pockets 50, which can be supplied in kit form, can thenbe installed relatively quickly.

The pockets may be of any suitable material e.g. cloth (preferablywaterproof) or of plastics sheeting material. The sides may slope at anyconvenient angle to the horizontal. However, below 35° the golf ballstend to bounce out of the pocket which is undesirable; also, even whencaptured, the balls take a long time to reach the outlet of the pocket,which delays code reading. Angles above 80° require too deep a hole 40to be cost effective.

FIGS. 5 to 11 show a target 112 in accordance with a second embodimentof the present invention. The basic support construction comprises anouter ring 141 of diameter 12.6 m, an intermediate ring 142 of diameter4.6 m and supported on four legs (not shown) and a central ring 143 withan internal diameter of 125 mm. The hole within ring 143 corresponds toa “hole-in-one”.

A grid of radially-extending web members in the form of steel cables 146is suspended between rings 141 and 142. Sets of pockets 150, arranged insixteen segments of netting 147, are suspended from the grid of cables.Each cable 146 can withstand a load of 10 KN. FIGS. 6 and 7 show thepreferred dimensions of a slightly-modified segment 147 in which thepockets form polygons in plan view rather than segments of a circle(however, the preferred dimensions indicated are substantially thesame).

Each pocket 150 comprises an upper region 161 with substantiallyvertical walls 162 and arranged to catch low driven balls. The pocket isheld open by a rigid apertured former 163 which also serves as a baffleto prevent balls exiting from the top of the pocket. The former ispreferably of a teardrop shape so that balls roll over it on the way inbut hit it when attempting to exit. The former 163 constitutes theborder between the upper region 161 and a lower region 164, the walls165 of which slope towards the exit 166 at the bottom of the pocket.Lower region 164 is arranged to catch high lofted shots and low speedchipped shots. It also contains one or more radial baffles 167 whichserve to restrict movement of a ball within region 164 and to quicklydirect it to exit 166. The walls 165 of the lower region 164 areproduced on the bias i.e. produced in a diamond format as opposed to themore usual squares. This has the effect of making any surplus materialsag toward the exit 166 and not across the pocket. Sagging across thepocket can cause sections that stop the balls preventing them fromreaching the exit 166.

The exit 166 is connected to a ball reader by means of a net connector(not shown).

FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate the attachment of the radially-extending wall155 of a pocket 150 to a cable 146. The pocket comprises netting 156sewn into a webbing strip 157 and is arranged to be suspended by aplurality of nautical hooks 158 sewn into webbing strip 157.

FIG. 9 illustrates the attachment of adjacent pocket walls 155, 155 ¹ toa cable 146. The hooks 158 ¹ supporting wall 155 ¹ are clipped on atintermediate points between the points at which hooks 158 for wall 155are clipped on. In each case the hooks 158, 158 ¹ are clipped on fromthe opposite side to their respective pocket. Thus to attach a hook 158,it is first positioned at the opposite side of cable 146 and thenclipped on by moving it towards cable 146. When the webbing strips 157of the walls 155, 155 ¹ are pulled tight along the cable 146, thereresults the configuration of FIG. 9, from which it will be seen thatthere are no gaps between the adjacent walls of the pockets into whichgolf balls might fall. Thus all golf balls landing on the target aredetected.

The intermediate ring 142 supports first ends of four furtherradially-extending steel cables 176, the second ends of which areattached to hooks 181 arranged around the periphery of the central ring143, FIGS. 10 and 11. The hooks 181 and cables 176 can each withstand aload of 20KN.

Three pockets are concentrically arranged within intermediate ring 142.A 4.6 m diameter pocket 182 is attached to ring 142 itself. A 2.3 mdiameter pocket 183 is suspended from the cables 176. A 125 mm diameterpocket 184 is contained within the central ring 143 and, aspreviously-mentioned, constitutes a “hole-in-one”.

The arrangement of the second embodiment has the advantage of fewerparts than the first embodiment and is thus quicker and easier toinstall.

In a modification, pocket 184 is replaced by a pipe or other conduit.

The balls received by target 112 may be collected in a single commonreceptacle (similar to receptacle 22 of the first embodiment) or in aplurality of shared receptacles.

Numerous modifications can be made to the above-described embodiments.For example, the target may be arranged wholly or partly above groundlevel; this decreases installation expense but is not as realistic. Therange may be arranged indoors, provided the roof is high enough fordriving.

The pockets 50, 150, 182, 183 may be of any convenient size, shape andpattern. For smaller targets, fewer pockets are used. The pockets may bearranged in rows and columns, or in honeycomb pattern. The overall shapeof the target in plan view may be elliptical, rectangular, polygonal orof irregular shape.

The features and modifications of the two embodiments may be combinedand/or exchanged as desired.

1. A device for receiving golf balls comprising a plurality of mutuallyadjacent pockets of flexible material, each pocket having an outletconnected to a common receptacle for collecting golf balls, wherein eachpocket contains an apertured former arranged to hold the respectivepocket open, each pocket further having an upper region withsteeply-inclined walls and lower region having walls lesssteeply-inclined than the walls of the upper region, said former beingprovided between the upper and lower regions, and wherein the lowerregion contains one or more baffle members.
 2. A device for receivinggolf balls comprising a plurality of mutually adjacent pockets offlexible material, each pocket having an outlet connected to a commonreceptacle for collecting golf balls, wherein each pocket contains anapertured former arranged to hold the respective pocket open, whereinthe pockets are suspended from web members extending across an openingand wherein said pockets are releasably attached to the web members, andwherein the attachment of said pockets to said web members is by meansof a plurality of hook members along an edge of the pocket, the hookmembers being attached to the web members from the side thereof remotefrom the pocket.
 3. The device for receiving golf balls of claim 2,wherein the web members are resilient.
 4. A device for receiving golfballs comprising a plurality of mutually adjacent pockets of flexiblematerial, each pocket having an outlet connected to a common receptaclefor collecting golf balls, wherein each pocket contains an aperturedformer, each pocket further having an upper region with steeply-inclinedwalls and a lower region having walls less steeply-inclined than thewalls of the upper region, said former being provided between the upperand lower regions, and said former being arranged to hold the respectivepocket open and to act as a baffle to prevent balls exiting the top ofthe pocket.
 5. A device according to claim 4, wherein the walls of theupper region are substantially vertical.
 6. A device according to claim4, wherein each pocket has a respective device at the outlet fordetecting the passage of a golf ball.
 7. A device according to claim 4,wherein the pockets are arranged in groups of pockets, each group havinga respective device for detecting the passage of a golf ball.
 8. Adevice according to claim 6 for receiving coded golf balls, whereinreading devices also detect the codes.
 9. A device according to claim 8,wherein the outlets of the pockets are connected to the reading devicesby means of first conduit means, and the reading devices are connectedto said common receptacle by second conduit means, said first conduitmeans being steeper than said second conduit means.
 10. A deviceaccording to claim 4, wherein the pockets are suspended from web membersextending across an opening.
 11. A device according to claim 10, whereinthe web members are resilient.
 12. A device according to claim 10,wherein the pockets are releasably attached to the web members.
 13. Adevice according to claim 4, wherein the pockets are arranged inconcentric rings.